The Columbus journal., 1887-01-05
AWILDCATI IN THE CELLAR.
Mr.. Tobias Exciting Experience with N
UnWelc0me Visitor.

Ou"OsCUh4C sSseO
On Sunday evening Cyrus Tobin Of
Cherry Tree. Pa, took q lamp and went
down cellar to draw . pitcher Of cider.
says Il correspondent Of the New York
Sun. In one corner Of the cellar ranks
Of kindling-wood are piled. As Tobin
went down the steps he heard some
thing Jump on the wood. and several
sticks tulu6!ed down to the cellar floor.
Tobin thought = mar had got into tho
cellar and was providing there to rob
the house. He held the lamp up to let
the light fall on the wood-pile. when he
was startled to see an enormous Wild
Cat crouching there. In his excitement
TObin throw the pitcher he had in his
hand ut the wildcat. The pitcher struck
the wall above the animals head, aud
fragments of crockcry fell back upon it
The wildcat sprang clear across tho
cellar. and after leaping from place
10 another vaulted to a swinging-shelf
about ten feet from where TObin was
standing.
Tobin ran back mp stairs and got his
revolver. and. returning to the cellar.
blazed away at the wildcat. The con
cussion put the light out. and then the
eyes of the wildcat could be so plainly
seer glaring at its enemy in the dark
that the latter was afraid to fire again
without \ light. and hurried back up
stairs to relight the lamp. There was
no one in the house besides Tobin ex-
cept his wife and daughter. When he
Came up the first time and got the pistol
he was in such q hurry that he did not
tell them what he had seen in the eel
lar. aud before they could follow him
the shot had been fired that extinguished
the light.
Mrs. Tobin and her daughter ran to
the cellar steps. and. seeing that it Was
all dark at the bottom, thought Tobin
had shot himself. and ran screaming to
a neighbours. Tobin. in his determina-
ton TO kill the wildcat. paid no atten-
ton to the running away of his family.
but relighted his lamp and returned to
the cellar. 1t was evident that his first
shot had not hit the mark. for the Wild
Cat remained on the swinging shelf,
crouching down. The animal seemed
bewildered b. its strange surroundings
AOOii1 lCu NSN1iIs dIbu SSutu ltC.tuulp
went out. The wildcat was probably
hit, for it leapcd from the shelf and
leaped about tho cellar among barrels
and boxes. making \ racket that drove
TObin hcltcr-skeiter back up the stairs
again.
As he was relighting his lamp his
wife and daughter. accompanied by Mr..
and Mrs. Giles, neighbors, came rush
ing into the house. and as Mrs. Tobin
saw her husband standing in the
she tainted. In the excitement that
followed Tobin gave no explanation of
his shots in the cellar. but when Mrs.
Tobin was restored he told about the
wildcat. Tobin and Giles r~e-entered
the cellar, Giles carrying the lamp and
TObin handling the revolver. The
wildcat was nowhere to be seen ut first,
out was finally discovered behind some
barrels of apples under the cellar steps.
TObin fired another shot at it, and the
animal leapcd out. and. rushing by the
two men. ran up the cellar steps to the
room where the three excited women
were. Their creams added to the ap-
parent bcwilderment of the wildcat and
II trled 10 Jump through a
Tobin and Giles hurried upstairs,
and found the women huddled together
in one corner Of the room. almost rals-
ing the ceiling with their shrieks, while
the wildcat was on the other side of the
room trying to lind a place to escape
from the house. Tobin fired again. and
the wildcat leaped to the top of a bureau,
sweeping everything to the floor that
was on il, ami then sprang past the
and returned to the cellar. Tobin
and Giles followed it, but it was no
where to be found.
A small cellar window was found to
be open. and by that it had evidently
into the cellar in the first place.
and also escaped through it. Traces of
blood were in the room, Oh the cellar
steps. and Oh the cellar window ledge,
showing that the animal had been hit
by some Of Tobin's pistol-shota